1,600 heliostatic mirrors are positioned on the southern facade and reflect the light to a central receiver.

Studied Impact, headed by architect Robert Ferry, is also responsible for designing the Almesien Tower, another solar concentrating skyscraper. Ferry’s newest design is planned for the Al Quoz neighborhood in Dubai, and would be located on an empty lot with clear access to sunlight on all sides. The bottom three floors would include shopping, commercial areas and restaurants and would be designed to fit in with the surrounding architecture, although the soaring tower would stick out compared to the low lying buildings surrounding it. On top of the retail podium would be a living roof top garden watered with condensate from the building’s air handling units.

Renewable energy systems have certainly been incorporated into buildings before, but never on such a grand scale. The design and architecture for the 10 MW Tower is actually centered around the renewable integrated systems. Based upon meteorological data for the Al Quoz site, the 5 MW horizontal axis wind turbine is capable of operating for 1,600 hours per year, while the two solar systems could operate for 2,400 hours per year, adding up to a yearly output of approximately 20,000 MWh. The estimated embodied energy of the tower is 360,000 MWh, so the energy generation would be able to neutralize its environmental impact in less than twenty years, which no other skyscraper has ever done.

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4 Comments

Dr George MamulashviliJune 30, 2011 at 8:23 am

Modern solar-wind technologies in the world architecture. It is important that modern architecture has turned its attention to the latest technologies in renewable energy. Architectural bureau Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is different in that it is the first time already in this century has used in the design of skyscrapers, such as Kingdom Tower is widely known in the past century construction technology of Solar Towers, producing clean energy. The first tower built Germany’s “Schlaich Bergermann und Partners” in 1980 in Spain. She was a pilot and produce only 50 kW of power with a turbine propeller type. Although it took after almost 40 years, and in recent years the government of leading European countries pay little attention to these technologies, many researchers have developed various concepts and tried to put them in Israel, Germany, Russia, USA, UK and Australia (see . Website: http://www.solar-tower.org.uk/news-informations-en.php). I received an inventor’s certificate vortex power plant in 1985, number 1319654. Technologies differ, but the essence of one – the ability to control air flow and benefit from this low-cost electricity. Artificial wind is good precisely because wind turbines are installed where power is constructed and the number of necessary capacity, at the same time the perception of the natural wind flow is possible only where they exist, at least for a year, known as the average measurement. The technology of the past century, although it has not been worked out for various reasons, including perhaps the hope of creating safe nuclear power plants in our time has lost its meaning as to pull the pipe air thermal power indefinitely in order to increase capacity is not economically feasible, but the use of a cyclone artificial air flow, allows you to set output at lower elevations with more compact dimensions. It is known that premium German Aerospace Society DLR scientists have for the experimental vortex installation height of only 12 meters which allows to get 10 kW of electrical energy from the rotating air flow in it. In principle, there are theoretical, but now and finite element analysis in the medium ANSYS, proving that the power of the vortex to reach 100 MW in power is possible at altitudes of up to 600 meters. This shows that the use of the world’s leading architects in the design of such technologies can be effective for the full energy-independent buildings. For example, to provide the very tall skyscraper Burj Khalifa in Dubai 820 meters to 5,000 kW of instantaneous power needed for this vortex power plant up to 300 meters, which is comparable with the height of the skyscraper. The main design problem and their co-release of an exclusive building based suppliers of renewable and not all the time rising in price of electricity will be ensured for a long time.

Ashok KundapurMay 24, 2010 at 2:26 pm

Very ambitious indeed. Of the three systems mentioned the up draft system may not generate 2 MW unless of course it is of special design, but the attempt to incorporate three systems in a building is commendable, and if all buildings are designed in the same manner, the city may not require additional source of energy. Compliments to the lead architect Robert Ferry

desertEcoMarch 10, 2010 at 1:10 pm

a certainly ambitious concept. I hope that Dubai Worlds recent debt crisis doesn’t impact the progression of projects like this.

I have to commend the ambition and quick progression the UAE present with projects of this nature. I just wish that we in the western world could get behind ambitious and creative projects like this in our cities with equal speed.